The Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said Friday that he's interested in writing legislation this year improving background checks for gun buyers and cracking down on illegal firearms sales.
In an interview, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., provided little detail about his plans. But he said the federal background check system should be fixed to make sure more people with serious mental illnesses don't get firearms.
Criminals and people with significant mental problems are among those barred by federal law from buying guns. States are supposed to supply the federal background check system with purchasers' mental health records, but often they do not because of privacy rules and other barriers.
"We want to improve that system to try to screen out people who should not be able to possess firearms," Goodlatte said.
Until now, House GOP leaders have only said they will wait to act until the Democratic-run Senate produces legislation. The Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., could begin writing its own gun curb measure in the next week or two.
Goodlatte did not say when his panel might write legislation, but he said he would not necessarily wait for the Senate to pass legislation.
President Barack Obama has proposed near-universal background checks. Currently, the checks are only required for purchases from federally licensed gun dealers, not sales between private individuals at gun shows, online or elsewhere.
Goodlatte said his legislation would be unlikely to require private background checks for private gun sales between people.
Obama also wants to ban assault weapons and ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds. Goodlatte said he opposes those ideas.
Goodlatte did not say when his panel might write legislation. His comments that the House would begin acting on gun legislation were first reported by Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Congress.
Details remain unclear about the mental health of Adam Lanza, who shot 26 people to death at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school in December. But shooters in some recent mass shootings have been afflicted with mental problems, including those involved in the Virginia Tech killings in 2007 and the 2011 Tucson attack that killed six people and wounded 13, including then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.
As other congressional Republicans have done, Goodlatte also complained that current gun laws are not being enforced sufficiently. He and other GOP members of the Judiciary Committee wrote letters Friday to Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, asking for data on federal firearms prosecutions for the past 11 years.
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) ? The passengers of the Carnival cruise ship Triumph began the process of getting back to normal early Friday, checking into hotels for a shower, hot meal and good night's sleep or boarding buses bound for other cities after five numbing days at sea on a powerless ship disabled by an engine-room fire.
The cruise ship carrying some 4,200 people finally docked late Thursday in Mobile, as passengers raucously cheered the end to an ocean odyssey they say was marked by overflowing toilets, food shortages and foul odors.
"Sweet Home Alabama!" read one of the homemade signs passengers affixed alongside the 14-story ship as many celebrated at deck rails lining several levels of the stricken ship. The ship's horn loudly blasted several times as four tugboats pulled the crippled ship to shore at about 9:15 p.m. CST. Some gave a thumbs-up sign and flashes from cameras and cellphones lit the night.
Less than four hours later, the last passenger had disembarked.
Some, like 56-year-old Deborah Knight of Houston, had no interest in boarding one of about 100 buses assembled to carry passengers to hotels in New Orleans or Texas. Her husband Seth drove in from Houston and they checked into a downtown Mobile hotel.
"I want a hot shower and a daggum Whataburger," said Knight, who was wearing a bathrobe over her clothes as her bags were unloaded from her husband's pickup truck. She said she was afraid to eat the food on board and had gotten sick while on the ship.
Later, buses arrived in the pre-dawn darkness at the Hilton in New Orleans to reporters and paramedics on the scene with wheelchairs to roll in passengers who were elderly or too fatigued to walk.
Many were tired and didn't want to talk. There were long lines to check into rooms. Some got emotional as they described the deplorable conditions of the ship.
"It was horrible, just horrible" said Maria Hernandez, 28, of Angleton, Texas, tears welling in her eyes as she talked about waking up to smoke in her lower-level room Sunday and the days of heat and stench to follow. She was on a "girls trip" with friends.
She said the group hauled mattresses to upper-level decks to escape the heat. As she pulled her luggage into the hotel, a flashlight around her neck, she managed a smile and even a giggle when asked to show her red "poo-poo bag" ? distributed by the cruise line for collecting human waste.
This was only part of her journey to get home. Hernandez, like hundreds others, would get to enjoy a brief reprieve at the hotel before flying home later in the day.
"I just can't wait to be home," she said.
It wasn't long after the ship pulled into the Port of Mobile that passengers began streaming down the gang plank, some in wheelchairs and others pulling carry-on luggage. One man gave the thumbs up.
An ambulance pulled up to a gate and pulled away, lights flashing.
Carnival had said it would take up to five hours for all the 3,000 passengers to be off. It took closer to four.
"All guests have now disembarked the Carnival Triumph," Carnival tweeted.
For 24-year-old Brittany Ferguson of Texas, not knowing how long passengers had to endure their time aboard was the worst part.
"I'm feeling awesome just to see land and buildings," said Ferguson, who was in a white robe given to her aboard to weather the cold nights. "The scariest part was just not knowing when we'd get back."
As the ship pulled up, some aboard shouted, "Hello, Mobile!" Some danced in celebration on one of the balconies. "Happy V-Day" read one of the homemade signs made for the Valentine's Day arrival and another, more starkly: "The ship's afloat, so is the sewage."
A few dozen relatives on the top floor of the parking deck of the terminal were waving lights at the ship as it carefully made its way alongside. Those about were screaming, whistling and taking pictures.
Hundreds gawked from dockside at the arrival at the Alabama cruise terminal in Mobile, the state's only seaport, as the Triumph docked.
Taxis were lined up waiting for people, and motorists on Interstate 10 stopped to watch the exodus of passengers from the cruise ship.
Some still aboard chanted, "Let me off, let me off!"
It took six grueling hours navigating the 30-odd-mile ship channel to dock, guided by at least four towboats. Nearly 900 feet in length, it was the largest cruise ship ever to dock at Mobile.
In texts and flitting cellphone calls, the ship's passengers described miserable conditions while at sea.
Buses left the terminal over several hours. Up to 100 had been reserved to carry passengers either on a seven-hour ride to the Texas cities of Galveston or Houston or a two-hour trip to New Orleans.
Galveston is the home port of the ill-fated ship, which lost power in an engine-room fire Sunday some 150 miles off Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. It was the end of a cruise that wasn't anything like what a brochure might describe.
Carnival CEO Gerry Cahill apologized at a news conference and later on the public address system as people were disembarking.
"I appreciate the patience of our guests and their ability to cope with the situation. And I'd like to reiterate the apology I made earlier. I know the conditions on board were very poor," he said. "We pride ourselves on providing our guests with a great vacation experience, and clearly we failed in this particular case."
Passenger Ferguson said crew members tried to make the situation bearable.
"They did their best to keep our spirits up," she said.
Joseph and Cecilia Alvarez of San Antonio said some passengers passed the time by forming a Bible study group.
"It was awesome," he said. "It lifted up our souls and gave us hope that we would get back."
While the passengers are headed home, Triumph will head to a Mobile shipyard for assessment.
Earlier Thursday ? four days after the 893-foot ship was crippled in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico ? the passengers and crew suffered another setback with towline issues that brought the vessel to a dead stop for about an hour just as it was getting close to port.
As the vessel drew within cellphone range Thursday, passengers vented their anger.
In a text message, Kalin Hill, of Houston, described deplorable conditions over the past few days.
"The lower floors had it the worst, the floors 'squish' when you walk and lots of the lower rooms have flooding from above floors," Hill wrote. "Half the bachelorette party was on two; the smell down there literally chokes you and hurts your eyes."
She said "there's poop and urine all along the floor. The floor is flooded with sewer water ... and we had to poop in bags."
The company disputed the accounts of passengers who described the ship as filthy, saying employees were doing everything to ensure people were comfortable.
Carnival has canceled a dozen more planned voyages aboard the Triumph and acknowledged the crippled ship had been plagued by other mechanical problems in the weeks before the engine-room blaze. The National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation.
Passengers were supposed to get a full refund and discounts on future cruises, and Carnival announced Wednesday they would each get an additional $500 in compensation.
Kendall Jenkins of Houston won her first cruise as a contest prize. But she's never planning to set sail on a cruise again after the ill-fated voyage of the Triumph, despite the offer for another free cruise.
"This is my first and last cruise. So if anyone wants my free cruise look me up," said Jenkins, 24.
She and her friend, Brittany Ferguson, bounded off the ship Thursday night clad in bathrobes. They immediately kissed the pavement at the Port of Mobile, having spent their final minutes aboard jumping up and down excitedly.
___
Associated Press writers Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston, Stacey Plaisance in New Orleans, Bob Johnson in Montgomery, Ala., and Melissa Nelson-Gabriel in Mobile, Ala., contributed to this report.
Ian McDiarmid as Galileo (left) and James Tucker as the Bursar (Image: Ellie Kurtz)
It has been more than 400 years since Galileo Galilei pointed his telescope toward the night sky and observed the movement of the moons around Jupiter, providing proof that all things do not revolve around the Earth - and drawing the ire of the Catholic church.
And it has been nearly 80 years since playwright Bertolt Brecht wrote the first version of A Life of Galileo?while living in Denmark after fleeing Germany when Hitler took power.
Yet the latest retelling of this famous tale by the Royal Shakespeare Company underscores the emphatically contemporary nature of the struggle between static world views and dynamic knowledge.
This is reinforced by using the familiar, modern clothing of tweedy dishevelment among Galileo and his colleagues and pupils, and sets featuring the lab-staple whiteboard and a large blue backdrop that resembles a wall of solar panels.
But of course this is not simply an old story with modern accoutrements and gimmicky staging. Portrayed by Ian McDiarmid, Galileo?s compulsive curiosity, his sheer joy when his pupil grasps a new concept for the first time, and his bewildered frustration when adversaries refuse to observe the evidence literally in front of them feel both timely and timeless. ?All I ask is for them to believe their eyes!? exclaims poor Galileo.
In a moment when 46 per cent of US citizens believe the Earth is less than 10,000 years old and four US states are weighing up bills that would challenge the teaching of evolution, the tension remains strong between theologies that carve out a creation story for humans and the evidence that we are the serendipitous result of millions of years of evolution.
There are strong reminders of these tensions in the play, for example, when a cleric bullies Galileo to keep his heliocentric ideas to himself, crystallising the church?s terror at the implications of his ideas: ?Is no one watching us?" asks the cleric. "Has no one imagined a part for us to play other than this one??
Galileo is cowed into compromise. His new ideas may be used to help seafarers better navigate by the stars, but not to upend the understanding of the order of things. They may answer practical questions, but not existential ones. ?We may research, but we may not draw conclusions.?
He accepts the new conditions in word only. His experiments continue, and when given the slimmest opening his feverish curiosity breaks out into the light of day. When he learns that his friend and science enthusiast Cardinal Barberini may ascend to the papacy, he lauds the arrival of an era of reason. Too soon, of course.
In the second act, we meet the new pope in his undergarments. As he debates the use of torture and threats to force Galileo to renounce the Copernican ideas laid out in his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Barberini dons layer upon layer of vestments. Crimson robes, a glittering great cape, and finally the mitre: when he is cloaked in the power of his office, Barberini assents to the threat of torture.
The scene parallels the opening scene of the play, in which Galileo, also in only his undergarments, is bathing and getting ready for the day. The contrast is evident: in the flesh, they are both ageing men. But their power to spread ideas is proportional to the grandeur of their garments. When Galileo is threatened and ultimately abjures his earlier assertions, he returns beaten and bare-legged in a crumpled white gown.
The legacy of Galileo?s recantation is left open. Brecht rewrote aspects of the play following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, when he was living in the US. ?Overnight the biography of the founder of the new system of physics read differently,? he wrote in an introduction to the new version. ?The infernal effect of the great bomb placed the conflict between Galileo and the authorities of his day in a new sharper light.?
Brecht never saw the stage production of his later version in New York, as he left the country after being questioned by the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
By the end of the play, Galileo is wary of science shaped by interests more nefarious than the quest for truth. He sees a danger in scientists being reduced to little more than ?inventing pygmies? for sale to the highest bidder, their ideas open to be used for cruel ends. Galileo?s public recantation and private pursuit of truth and Brecht?s ambivalence about the responsibility of scientists to shape the use of their research for the benefit of humankind are not necessarily two sides of the same coin, it seems.
But it isn?t clear that in publicly defying the church Galileo would have reshaped the way that scientific knowledge is applied. And in real life, as in the play, in sneaking his final, influential publication Discourse and Mathematical Demonstrations About Two New Sciences out under the noses of the church which held him under house arrest for the final years of his life, Galileo seems vindicated in his decision to live to think another day.
As New Yorker critic Adam Gopnik recently put it, ?the best reason we have to believe in the moons of Jupiter is that no one has to be prepared to die for them in order for them to be real?.
It may be an excruciatingly slow process, but the truth has a way of emerging into the light eventually. It was just two decades ago - and 350 years after Galileo?s death - that the Catholic church finally admitted that it had been wrong to condemn him.
A Life of Galileo is on at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK, until 30 March.
Cancer drugs should kill tumors, not encourage their spread. But new evidence suggests that an otherwise promising class of drugs may actually increase the risk of tumors spreading to bone, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
The drugs, IAP antagonists, block survival signals that many cancer cells rely on to stay alive. Working in mice, the investigators found that targeting the same protein that makes tumors vulnerable to death also overactivates cells called osteoclasts, which are responsible for tearing down bone.
?These investigational drugs are getting broad attention right now because they seem to be very effective against primary tumors,? says senior author Deborah V. Novack, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine. ?There is also excitement because until now, these drugs have not appeared to have major side effects.?
The research appears in the February issue of Cancer Discovery.
In light of the study, Novack urges oncologists to think about protecting bone in patients taking IAP antagonists, including patients with cancers that don?t typically spread to bone. Numerous IAP antagonists are in early clinical trials against breast, lung, pancreatic, ovarian, prostate, liver, skin and blood cancers.
?For many of these cancers, doctors are not watching bone,? Novack says. ?Osteoporosis is not the biggest concern when treating cancer, but if they?re not doing bone scans, they may miss a cancer spreading to bone.?
To maintain healthy bone, osteoclasts work in tandem with cells that build new bone. But IAP antagonists overactivate osteoclasts, destroying bone that is not replaced. In mice, the researchers showed that the drug led to osteoporosis, creating an environment that encouraged tumor growth in degrading bone, even while simultaneously killing breast cancer cells elsewhere.
After showing that the problem with IAP antagonists is specific to bone, Novack and her colleagues tested long-established drugs called bisphosphonates that inhibit osteoclasts and are used to treat osteoporosis.
?We found that bisphosphonate treatment protected bone from the negative effects of these drugs,? Novack says. ?While bisphosphonates are common for breast cancer patients, they?re not, for example, commonly given to lung cancer patients. But since IAP antagonists are now in lung cancer trials, we?re saying doctors may want to consider bisphosphonate treatment for lung cancer or other cancer patients receiving these drugs. Or at least closely monitor the bone status.?
IAP antagonists are now only available to patients enrolled in phase 1 or 2 clinical trials. While these kinds of trials examine the short-term safety and effectiveness of new drugs, the researchers say they may not catch bone metastasis.
?These trials do not necessarily look for long-term effects of the drugs,? says Chang Yang, MD, PhD, staff scientist and the paper?s first author. ?If the cancer is going to metastasize to bone, it may take six months to two years to see that outcome. This may not be seen during the clinical trial.?
Numerous drug companies are developing IAP antagonists intended for many kinds of cancer, but only Genentech agreed to provide Novack and her colleagues with its drug, called BV6, to evaluate in the study. Because the investigators could not obtain other proprietary IAP antagonists, they also made two other similar drug compounds and found them to have the same detrimental effects on the bone.
And to further ensure that over-stimulated osteoclasts are the only culprit in the bone metastasis associated with these new drugs, they performed studies in mice that lack the ability to dial up the production of osteoclasts. Even when given IAP antagonists, these mice were protected from osteoporosis and osteoclast activation.
Together, Novack says the studies have demonstrated that these results are unlikely to be a quirk of a particular compound.
?The osteoporosis and spread of tumors we see in bone are unintended side effects of IAP antagonists, but they?re not off-target effects,? she says. ?They?re based on the mechanism of action for the entire class of drugs.?
Yang C, Davis JL, Zeng R, Vora P, Su X, Collins LI, Vangveravong S, Mach RH, Piwnica-Worms D, Weilbaecher KN, Faccio R, Novack DV. Anticancer IAP inhibition increases bone metastasis via unexpected osteoclast activation. Cancer Discovery. February 2013.
This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant number AR052705, with additional support from AR52921 and AR53628, CA100730, and the Barnes-Jewish Foundation. Histological and microCT analysis was supported in part by the Washington University Center for Musculoskeletal Research NIH/National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), grant number AR057235. The Molecular Imaging Center was supported by NIH grant P50 CA94056. Genentech, Inc. provided BV6.
Washington University School of Medicine?s 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children?s hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked sixth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children?s hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
? AFP/Powered By Newslook This video still image shows the smoke trail created by the meteor that exploded over the Chelyabinsk region of Russia on Feb. 15, 2013.
It's really starting to look like the sky is falling.
According to media reports, a fireball streaked through the skies above California's Bay Area Friday evening (Feb. 15), just hours after another bright meteor exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk and a 150-foot-wide (45 meters) asteroid gave Earth a historically close shave.
The Bay Area fireball blazed up around 7:45 p.m. local time Friday (10:45 p.m. EST; 0345 GMT Saturday), NBC Bay Area reported. The meteor apparently had a bluish tinge and was visible over a wide swath of the region, from Fairfield north of San Francisco Bay down to Gilroy, which is south of San Jose.
There were no immediate reports of injuries, which distinguished the California fireball from its Russian counterpart. The Chelyabinsk blast generated a powerful shock wave that damaged hundreds of buildings and wounded more than 1,000 people.
Friday's Russian fireball was the largest such explosion since a 1908 airburst levelled 825 square miles (2,137 square kilometers) of forest in the Tunguska region of Siberia, NASA scientists said.
The flyby of asteroid 2012 DA14, which also took place Friday, didn't generate such pyrotechnics in the atmosphere, but it was dramatic enough in its own right. The space rock cruised to within 17,200 miles (27,000 kilometers) of Earth at one point, coming closer than the ring of geosynchronous satellites circling the planet.
The flyby marked the closest approach of such a large asteroid that astronomers had ever known about in advance.
The space rock that generated the Chelyabinsk fireball had nothing to do with asteroid 2012 DA14, NASA researchers stressed. Little is known about where the Bay Area meteor came from at the moment, but it may turn out to be unrelated as well, making Friday a day of truly improbable cosmic coincidences.
UTSA engineering dean C. Mauli Agrawal receives award from Society for BiomaterialsPublic release date: 12-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: KC Scharnberg kc.scharnberg@utsa.edu 210-458-7555 University of Texas at San Antonio
Agrawal's 25 years of service to orthopedic and cardiovascular biomaterials recognized internationally
C. Mauli Agrawal, David and Jennifer Spencer Distinguished Chair for the Dean of Engineering and Peter Flawn Professor in Biomedical Engineering at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), has been selected as the sole recipient of the Society for Biomaterials (SFB) 2013 Award for Service. The award honors Agrawal's significant service to the SFB in establishing, developing, maintaining and promoting its objectives and goals and the field of biomaterials.
He will be recognized at the society's annual meeting in Boston, Mass., April 10-13.
"It is truly an honor to receive this international recognition," says Agrawal. "I was fortunate to enter the field of biomaterials when some of the pioneers who changed the practice of medicine through revolutionary implants were still active. I have been privileged to learn from them and pass on the tradition to younger generations. This has made my 25 years in the field very fulfilling."
Agrawal specializes in the area of orthopedic and cardiovascular biomaterials. His work in these fields has resulted in several patents, many of which have been licensed to commercial entities. His lab is currently investigating tissue engineering approaches to treat aortic aneurysms, developing new technologies for drug eluting stents, exploring some revolutionary techniques for preventing blood loss related to battlefield injuries, and developing stent based micro-thin implantable blood pressure sensors.
Lynne Jones of Johns Hopkins University and chair of the Society for Biomaterials Awards, Ceremonies and Nominations Committee says, "Dr. Agrawal's service to the Society for Biomaterials has been demonstrated in many ways across many years. It is a pleasure to recognize his many contributions to the SFB."
During his professional career, Agrawal has been the recipient of several honors and awards, and has authored more than 300 scientific publications, four scientific books, and has established more than a dozen patents. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, an honor reserved for those in the top two percent of the medical and biological engineering field. In 2010, he was awarded the distinguished BioMed SA's Julio Palmaz Award for Innovation in Healthcare and the Biosciences.
He was elected president of the Society for Biomaterials in 2006 and served as the chair of its Annual Scientific Meeting in 2001. Additionally, he is a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Sigma XI Society, Biomedical Engineering Society and the Engineering Deans' Council. He also serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, Journal of Biomedical Materials Research (Applied Biomaterials), Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, and IEEE Systems of Systems.
Agrawal earned his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India, his master's degree in mechanical engineering from Clemson University, and his Ph.D. in materials science from Duke University.
Agrawal came to San Antonio in 1991 for a position as assistant professor of orthopaedics and director of orthopaedic biomaterals at The University of Texas Health Science Center. In 2003 he joined the UTSA College of Engineering as associate dean for research and was appointed dean in 2005. He established the department of biomedical engineering at UTSA as well as led the effort to establish the joint biomedical program between UTSA and the UT Health Science Center, the Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute, the Center for Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship and the Interactive Technology Experience Center (iTEC).
Under Agrawal's leadership, the college's annual research expenditures have increased dramatically from $1 million to $14 million, he has recruited faculty from top universities across the world, and student enrollment has nearly doubled, putting UTSA on the map as the fastest growing engineering program in the state.
###
The Society for Biomaterials is the world's premier professional organizations for implants and biomaterials with members from more than 25 countries. For more information, visit http://www.biomaterials.org.
Nationally ranked and recognized, UTSA College of Engineering provides world-class education and research opportunities to the region's multicultural community, to the nation and beyond. The college offers 16 different graduate and undergraduate degrees to its 2,500 students within the departments of biomedical, civil and environmental, electrical and computer, and mechanical engineering and is accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. For more information, visit http://www.engineering.utsa.edu.
About UTSA
The University of Texas at San Antonio is one of the largest of nine academic universities and six health institutions in the UT System. As a multicultural institution, UTSA aims to be a national research university providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
UTSA serves nearly 31,000 students in 135 degree programs in the colleges of Architecture, Business, Education and Human Development, Engineering, Honors, Liberal and Fine Arts, Public Policy, Sciences and Graduate School. Founded in 1969, UTSA is an intellectual and creative resource center and a socioeconomic development catalyst for Texas and beyond. For more information, visit UTSA online at http://www.utsa.edu and on Twitter @UTSANews.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
UTSA engineering dean C. Mauli Agrawal receives award from Society for BiomaterialsPublic release date: 12-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: KC Scharnberg kc.scharnberg@utsa.edu 210-458-7555 University of Texas at San Antonio
Agrawal's 25 years of service to orthopedic and cardiovascular biomaterials recognized internationally
C. Mauli Agrawal, David and Jennifer Spencer Distinguished Chair for the Dean of Engineering and Peter Flawn Professor in Biomedical Engineering at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), has been selected as the sole recipient of the Society for Biomaterials (SFB) 2013 Award for Service. The award honors Agrawal's significant service to the SFB in establishing, developing, maintaining and promoting its objectives and goals and the field of biomaterials.
He will be recognized at the society's annual meeting in Boston, Mass., April 10-13.
"It is truly an honor to receive this international recognition," says Agrawal. "I was fortunate to enter the field of biomaterials when some of the pioneers who changed the practice of medicine through revolutionary implants were still active. I have been privileged to learn from them and pass on the tradition to younger generations. This has made my 25 years in the field very fulfilling."
Agrawal specializes in the area of orthopedic and cardiovascular biomaterials. His work in these fields has resulted in several patents, many of which have been licensed to commercial entities. His lab is currently investigating tissue engineering approaches to treat aortic aneurysms, developing new technologies for drug eluting stents, exploring some revolutionary techniques for preventing blood loss related to battlefield injuries, and developing stent based micro-thin implantable blood pressure sensors.
Lynne Jones of Johns Hopkins University and chair of the Society for Biomaterials Awards, Ceremonies and Nominations Committee says, "Dr. Agrawal's service to the Society for Biomaterials has been demonstrated in many ways across many years. It is a pleasure to recognize his many contributions to the SFB."
During his professional career, Agrawal has been the recipient of several honors and awards, and has authored more than 300 scientific publications, four scientific books, and has established more than a dozen patents. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, an honor reserved for those in the top two percent of the medical and biological engineering field. In 2010, he was awarded the distinguished BioMed SA's Julio Palmaz Award for Innovation in Healthcare and the Biosciences.
He was elected president of the Society for Biomaterials in 2006 and served as the chair of its Annual Scientific Meeting in 2001. Additionally, he is a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Sigma XI Society, Biomedical Engineering Society and the Engineering Deans' Council. He also serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, Journal of Biomedical Materials Research (Applied Biomaterials), Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, and IEEE Systems of Systems.
Agrawal earned his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India, his master's degree in mechanical engineering from Clemson University, and his Ph.D. in materials science from Duke University.
Agrawal came to San Antonio in 1991 for a position as assistant professor of orthopaedics and director of orthopaedic biomaterals at The University of Texas Health Science Center. In 2003 he joined the UTSA College of Engineering as associate dean for research and was appointed dean in 2005. He established the department of biomedical engineering at UTSA as well as led the effort to establish the joint biomedical program between UTSA and the UT Health Science Center, the Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute, the Center for Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship and the Interactive Technology Experience Center (iTEC).
Under Agrawal's leadership, the college's annual research expenditures have increased dramatically from $1 million to $14 million, he has recruited faculty from top universities across the world, and student enrollment has nearly doubled, putting UTSA on the map as the fastest growing engineering program in the state.
###
The Society for Biomaterials is the world's premier professional organizations for implants and biomaterials with members from more than 25 countries. For more information, visit http://www.biomaterials.org.
Nationally ranked and recognized, UTSA College of Engineering provides world-class education and research opportunities to the region's multicultural community, to the nation and beyond. The college offers 16 different graduate and undergraduate degrees to its 2,500 students within the departments of biomedical, civil and environmental, electrical and computer, and mechanical engineering and is accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. For more information, visit http://www.engineering.utsa.edu.
About UTSA
The University of Texas at San Antonio is one of the largest of nine academic universities and six health institutions in the UT System. As a multicultural institution, UTSA aims to be a national research university providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
UTSA serves nearly 31,000 students in 135 degree programs in the colleges of Architecture, Business, Education and Human Development, Engineering, Honors, Liberal and Fine Arts, Public Policy, Sciences and Graduate School. Founded in 1969, UTSA is an intellectual and creative resource center and a socioeconomic development catalyst for Texas and beyond. For more information, visit UTSA online at http://www.utsa.edu and on Twitter @UTSANews.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
This past Saturday was another shower I co-hosted. ?The shower was at my sister's home, but I took over was responsible for the decorating. ?Perhaps you remember my vintage inspired baby shower a couple of years ago or my daughter's wedding shower last summer... if you know me, then you know that I'm a "theme" girl and this one was not different. ?The theme of course was "circus"... with a bit of carnival and zoo thrown in for good measure. ?Getting all the goods to my sister's house was a bit of a challenge... my little Honda Civic was loaded to the roof with all the stuff I hauled over there!
I forgot to take a picture of the invites. ?I ordered them from Paper Coterie so I was able to send myself a copy, except that the actual invites weren't just rectangular... they were all curvy... and very cute! ?Notice the font was even a circus poster kind of font and the colors helped set the stage for the shower decorations.
Since starting the planning last fall, I've been collecting vintage items at the thrift store, garage sales and antique stores. ?This cute little animal cracker tin was just pennies at the thrift store and the little vintage clown heads are tissue Christmas ornaments found at a local antique store. ?The pale aqua folding chair is child sized and I've had it for a number of years... I like to use it for a bit of height. ?The ticket rolls were ordered from my new favorite party supply store...
A couple of boxes of animal crackers were a must... along with salt water taffy and some vintage ticket bundles.
I found some vintage looking soda pops at my local grocery store...
And no circus themed anything would be?complete?without popcorn! ?We filled vintage styled popcorn bags with caramel corn.
One of the recipes I found on Pinterest was for crock pot hot chocolate. ?So with this still being February and technically winter I wanted to have a hot chocolate bar! ?Toppings like shaved chocolate, mini chocolate chips, chocolate covered marshmallows and of course... plenty of whipped cream!
The other beverage option was lemonade... no trip to the circus would be without lemonade, right? ?We had strawberry and raspberry syrup in case the guests like their lemonade with a bit of extra flavor.
And you just KNEW that there would be paper straws.... right? ?And this little framed photo was just downloaded from the internet... the frames were just inexpensive plastic frames from Ikea. ?We used red, green and white although the red and green may only be available for the Christmas holidays....
The food was fun and finger sized....
Of course, once again I forgot to photograph the food table with the actual food in place! ?But we had?Chinese?chicken salad in white takeout boxes, mini quiche, stuffed mushrooms, pizza puffs (also found on Pinterest and delicious) and veggies with dip.
Vintage styled party hats, tickets, suckers and candy sticks were?strewn?across the table as well.
The guests enjoyed the food and the games. ?The game books were a big hit with everyone!
As were the prizes, of course!
And after all the games, prizes and lunch? ?Well treat time too. ?Mini plain white cupcakes frosted with orange, lemon and root beer frosting.
Mini low fat cheesecake cups and mini frosted brownie bites... both topped with a slice of fresh strawberry. ?A super cute small, gauzy, bunting edged circus looking tent from Ikea's kids section really spotlighted the desert table.
And no party of mine would be complete with out my fantastic sugar cookies! ?Sprinkled with little multi colored sprinkles.
Am I making you hungry for sweets yet?
But really... the stars of the day were these two little angels. ?My nephew, Carson, on the left and my cousin's son, Nash, on the right. ?Still so tiny, cuddly and sleepy!
There's nothing like the smell of a little baby.... and it was a fabulous day!
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Public release date: 12-Feb-2013
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